iSyndica – Life just got a little easier

microstock syndication

Update: Unfortunately iSyndica closed in October 2010, however, a new similar service has started, which so far I am enjoying using. Check it out, picWorkflow.

I heard of iSyndica a couple of months ago. I had a brief look at their website, but later forgot about it. It seems that there are so many new companies in the microstock industry, that to look closely at all of them would require a lot of time. Also, to be honest I couldn’t remember the name, which is so out of character as I usually don’t forget a thing! Just kidding, I had trouble remembering Google when it first came out. Thankfully, a member of the iSyndica team contacted me recently, asking if I’d tried it out yet. I hadn’t, so I opened up a free account and gave it a go.

Like a lot of microstock photographers, I am working on my own. To be successful requires a lot of images online. However, the whole process is incredibly time consuming, keywording images, writing descriptions, editing the images with software like photoshop, scanning and uploading model release forms, re-editing images (optional), if the images don’t meet the high standards of the agencies. Oh and unless you’re working exclusively with one agency, uploading all your photos to several agencies.

These are my internet speeds. As you can see my upload speed isn’t too fast. I also can’t bulk upload due to frequent disconnections, plus strange things happen to my laptop if I do. In the tropics even computers like to take it easy. So uploading one photo to each agency individually, takes AGES. The cost for internet is also way higher than in the West, I would however happily pay even more, if I could just find an ISP with good internet speeds.

Here’s why iSyndica is so handy. You can upload your photos or videos to them just once, and then forget about having to upload them to several sites. Your metadata is also recorded. Once you’ve uploaded to iSyndica, it’s easy to transfer your content to the microstock sites, just choose the content you wish to transfer and the sites you wish to transfer to. Your content arrives in the ‘pending edit’ sections of your sites, often within seconds. I love it, I have more time for facebook, oh and maybe shooting some more. Even if you have fast internet speeds, this is still a useful tool. Why upload to all your sites separately, when you can upload your content just once, to one place. It is also a good tool for managing your content and it has a pretty good analytic’s page, where you can see all your download and earning details for your various microstock sites (UPDATE: as of July 29, 2009, analytic’s page is no longer available with the free monthly package, however paid subscriptions have been reduced significantly). Here are my projected earnings for July, in 2020. 😉

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microstock table

iSyndica launched in April with 14 supported stock photo agencies. For sales channels it now supports 23 microstock photo agencies and 8 video supported agencies. You can also send your images to SmugMug and Zenfolio. Promotional channels where you can send your images automatically watermarked and without using any credits, include Flickr, Facebook and Twitter (via TwitPic or Yfrog). iSyndica has to date transferred over 100 gigabytes of content. Some of the microstock agencies so far included are Dreamstime, Fotolia, 123rf, BigStockPhoto, CanStockPhoto, YayMicro and Cutcaster. And they are receiving many requests from other agencies for integration, which they hope to incorporate as soon as possible.

Seb iSyndica
This is a photo of Seb, the Chief Technology Officer, demonstrating his multitasking skills.

The name iSyndica is now embedded in the forefront of my remaining memory cells. You can open a free account where you will receive 100 credits per month. Each credit allows you to syndicate one image to one of your agencies. 10 credits are used for distributing one video to one of the agencies. There are also paid packages available, starting at $12 $4.99 per month (as of July 29, 09). I highly recommend iSyndica. Now all I need is a company which will do my photoshop for me.

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